Bedford College students to brew up new branding for Charles Wells

Bedford-based family-brewer Charles Wells is collaborating with Bedford College students to come up with branding design ideas for its new multi-million investment brewhouse and visitor destination, due to open to the public in early 2020.

This month, 30 students from Bedford College’s graphic design department will have the opportunity to pitch their individual creative design ideas for the brewery’s branding to a team at Charles Wells.

The panel judging the entries includes former Bedford College BA student Marcus Finch, who studied graphic design and is now working at Charles Wells as a retail and brand marketing executive.

Charles Wells’ commercial director Peter Wells said: “The local community is at the heart of the Charles Wells business, not just in Bedford where we’ve been based since 1876, but across all our sites.

“We want our new brewhouse development to be a destination that locals are proud of and want to visit so getting them involved from the outset is crucial.

“Bedford College is full of talented and creative individuals and we truly value their ideas and feedback on what would work well in terms of the look and feel of our new branding.

“It’s a great opportunity all round to channel some fresh thinking into an established brand.”

“It’s especially inspiring to have one of our former graphic design alumni, Marcus Finch, now working at Charles Wells and demonstrates how the business supports our students from education to employment.”

The new brewery development will have capacity to produce up to 5.5 million pints a year serving Charles Wells’ 197 pub-estate across the UK and France.

The site will also house fantastic facilities for the community, including a visitor centre offering tours of the brewery, a bar and restaurant that can be hired out for events and conferences, as well as a retail space stocked full of exclusive beers brewed on-site.

The initiative marks Charles Wells’ wider plans to engage with education establishments in Bedford as part of a drive to scout and recruit local talent for its apprenticeships and positions in head office and throughout its pub estate.

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